Prosecution Details

Being a responsible person at a workplace failed to ensure that a commercial vehicle driver who drove a vehicle that formed the whole or part of the workplace drove that vehicle in accordance with regulation 3.132(2)(a) of the Occupational Safety and Health Regulations 1996 (the Regulations) made under the Occupational Safety and Health Act 1984; namely by failing to ensure that a driver, who drove without a relief driver, so far as practicable, had in any 72 hour period - at least 27 hours non-work time, including at least 3 periods of at least 7 consecutive hours of non-work time, with each period separated from the next by not more than 17 hours; contrary to Regulations 3.131(1)(a) and 1.16(2)(b)(i)

1. The following were the circumstances in which each offence occurred.

2. The accused operated a business which transported fuel for BP to various locations in the Goldfields.

3. The accused owned the trucks and employed truck drivers.

4. At the end of each trip the accused's employees who drove its trucks recorded their working hours and breaks on a trip sheet, signed the trip sheet and submitted it to the accused. A manager employed by the accused checked the trip sheets for accuracy, and signed them.

5. The accused did not tell its drivers that their trip sheets showed that they were not having the rest breaks required by the Occupational Safety and Health Regulations 1996. Nor did the accused tell its drivers that they had to have these rest breaks.

6. Subsequent to the offences the accused told its drivers that when driving its trucks they had to take the legally required rest breaks.

7. On 5 August 2004 a WorkSafe Inspector had issued Prohibition Notice 70009404 to the accused because the accused was not ensuring that so far as practicable its drivers have the rest breaks required by the Occupational Safety and Health Regulations 1996.

Plead Guilty

Global fine of $35,000.00 for 16 charges.

Please note that the charges have a global fine. While a penalty is imposed on each charge it is for the global fine and not a separate amount for each charge.